An Indecent Proposal? (Ruth 3:1–18)
With harvest ending, Naomi sends Ruth to the threshing floor at night with an unusual and risky plan involving Boaz. The scene is filled with tension and double meaning, and rightly raises the question the sermon title asks. But instead of scheming or impropriety, what unfolds reveals the godly character of both Ruth and Boaz. Ruth asks Boaz to act as her redeemer; Boaz responds not with self-interest but with a promise to see the matter through rightly, whatever it costs him. The chapter closes with a picture of true rest—the kind that can never be manufactured by our own effort, but only given by the Lord in his time.
Introduction
Sometimes in Scripture we come across texts that in movie terms would be rated G, some PG, some PG-13, and others R. This is definitely in the PG-13 category for its innuendo that assumes a mature audience. That being said, God wants us to know about and talk about human intimate relationships honestly, seriously, but also notice here, modestly. There’s a lot unsaid although we can read between the lines.
The question the text poses is whether this is An Indecent Proposal? It suggests that, but don’t forget that all Scripture is breathed-out by God including this story today. And the amazing thing is that even a story like this that seems to suggest immoral things are happening furthers the narrative on of the coming of a Savior for Israel—our Lord Jesus Christ.
How does this story do that and what does it say? Again we have the three main characters, Naomi, Ruth, and Boaz—he’s really is capturing our imagination with his on-screen presence, so to speak.
And you can see here the words of Naomi and Ruth in verses 1–5, then Ruth’s doing what Naomi suggested in verses 6–7, most importantly, the heart of the story is Boaz and Ruth’s interaction in verses 8–15, and finally, in verses 16–18 Ruth returns to Naomi.
An Indecent Proposal? That’s the interesting question. I want you to focus in on two responses that will answer that question for us. May the Holy Spirit lead our heart and minds this morning!
The Ways of Naomi
The story opens up with the ways of Naomi. We pick up where we left off in chapter 2 where Naomi and Ruth where living. At some point a conversation ensued with Naomi saying to Ruth, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you? Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor” (vv. 1–2). After Ruth has told Naomi about the field of Boaz, Naomi is beginning to see an opportunity so she wants to seize the opportunity as quickly as she can.
So she takes matter into her own hand: “should I not seek rest for you” (v. 1). So she comes up with a plan for Ruth: Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking” (v. 3). Wash and anoint, in other words, make yourself presentable. The word “cloak” is where the double entendre begins, that is, where words are used that can suggest two different things. This word is used of a poor person’s garment in Exodus 22:26–27 but also of fragrant robes in the Song of Solomon, a story of love between a husband and wife (Ferguson, Faithful God, 89 n1. Ulrich says it is just the poor person’s garment. From Famine to Fullness, 89).
And then she tells Ruth to go to the threshing floor where Boaz would be at night, harvesting his grain. Nighttime is always more dangerous. And threshing floors were typically outside the city gates. Because of this, they became associated with immorality. According to Hosea 9:1 this was the place where prostitutes waited for men. In other words, what happens at the threshing floor, stays at the threshing floor. Even more, Naomi tells Ruth to wait until Boaz’s guard is down, having eaten and drunk wine. And then, “when he lies down…go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do” (v. 4). To “uncover” the feet is another double entendre: it usually means to pull your pants down and expose yourself, but Naomi could just be saying pull his blanket off and lie down at his feet innocently. The point is that there is innuendo, tension, and uneasiness created in us by Naomi’s ways. Get cleaned up and dressed, go at night (hint, hint), and get close to him physically.
What a mother-in-law, huh? What kind of advice is this? Naomi forces the issue, doesn’t she? And this is part of the double entendre, or question of whether this is indecent or not.
One of the practical principles we learn here from Naomi is that we are not to try to be wiser than God but to wait for his leading and his timing in our lives. The Lord has provided Boaz in his time and if the Lord wanted that to develop, he would allow it to in his time. This week I was attempting to clean up at least one of the piles in my office. If you’ve been in my office, you’ve seen that I have stacks of books over here, stacks of papers over there, and then some more! I picked up a pile of papers and I found three addresses I gave a couple of years ago to a single adults retreat. In one of my addresses I said something that I have no idea where I found it as I have no note on the source. In speaking of singleness and God’s will I said,
“You should be so in Christ that a man or woman has to seek him to find you.”
I know that sounds so overly pious and coming from a married man may not stick. But here’s the point: if you desire a godly man or woman to eventually become a godly couple and to establish a godly household, don’t resort to worldly means thinking that’s going to end up in godliness. Seek the Lord, and while you are doing that, someone else is seeking the Lord, and while they are doing that, the Lord will accomplish his perfect will in his perfect time.
The Worthiness of Boaz
So there are the ways of Naomi here, but there is also the worthiness of Boaz. Again, Naomi’s ways could have been cultural or just innocent means but they could also have been conniving to lead to immorality to force Boaz to marry Ruth. So how did Boaz respond?
In verses 6–7 we read that Ruth did everything Naomi said and that she executed the plan. Again notice that line in verse 7: uncovered his feet and lay down. To “uncover” is a word used throughout the Old Testament for exposing genitals.
In Leviticus it’s used for not doing this with your relative (Lev. 18:6);
In Ezekiel the Lord threatens Israel with uncovering its nakedness in front of its ungodly lovers in shame (Ezek. 16:37; 23:10).
And “feet” can be a euphemism, that is, a nice way of saying, relieving yourself.
It’s used this way with Saul in the cave (1 Sam 24:3);
It’s used of shaving the head and “feet,” meaning, all the way up and down the leg, as a means of shaming someone (Isa. 7:20);
and i’s also used of outright committing of adultery (Ezek. 16:25).
And even more, to “lie down” is often associated with immorality, such as with Lot’s eldest daughter committing immorality with him to produce Moab (Gen. 19). All the words here are double entendre (See Duguid, Esther & Ruth, 170–171).
She could also have just uncovered his legs so that she could get warm out in the night. And this is what we see happen. Boaz shows his worthiness, meaning, his godliness, as does Ruth. Back in 2:1 he was described as a godly man and here in 3:11 she is described as a godly woman (3:11). Naomi should have trusted the Lord’s will in the Lord’s time, but despite her creating a tempting situation nonetheless the Lord used it all. I want you to see that. It is so tempting for us as the reader to take this out of context and to make a pretext for doing something immoral thinking, “God can bless it anyway!”
No! Notice how they both respond to the awkward, tempting situation in verses 8 and following. In the middle of the night Boaz was startled and turned over, and behold, a woman lay at his feet! (v. 8) Awkward! So he asks, “Who are you?” and she answers, “I am Ruth, your servant” (v. 9). And notice what she asks for. It’s not to engage in immorality, which sexual relations before marriage it—immorality. Instead, she asks him, “Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer” (v. 9). This was what Boaz said to Ruth about what she had done by coming with Naomi to Israel—she came under the wings of the Lord (2:12). And what’s also interesting is to spread a robe over a women is also used of marriage in Ezekiel 16:8. Notice who’s asking for the equivalent of the engagement ring—Ruth! No comment on that one, men!
And Boaz responds with a prayer for Ruth to “be blessed by the Lord” (v. 10). Why? “You have made this last kindness—there’s that Hebrew word for faithfulness again—greater than the first” (v. 10). What does Boaz mean? “You have not gone after young men, whether poor or rich” (v. 10). Most commentators think she is in her twenties, but she waits for a worthy man, not just any man. So Boaz tells her not to fear as he would “do for you all that you ask for all my fellow townsmen know that you are a worthy woman” (v. 11). Literally, Boaz says, “for all the gate of my people know you are a worthy woman.”
Why is that important? In the Hebrew ordering of the Old Testament books, take a guess at what book comes right before Ruth? Proverbs.
And what comes at the end of Proverbs, just before we read about Ruth? The so-called “Proverbs 31 Woman” in Proverbs 31:10–31.
And what does Proverbs 31:31 say? “Giver her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.” Amazing!
Boaz doesn’t know this, but the ancient Jews who ordered the books knew, that Boaz was confessing that Ruth was the woman who was so in the Lord that he had to find him to find her.
Cue Felix Mendelssohn’s “Wedding March,” throw the rice, and bring up the horse and carriage. Not so fast! There’s a problem. “It is true that I am a redeemer. Yet there is a redeemer nearer than I” (v. 12). Remember what I said last week about the Old Testament law for a goel, a redeemer. A redeemer or kinsman was to seek justice for a murdered family member (Num. 35:12), to purchase family members who sold themselves into slavery, and to regain property that had been sold away to pay debts (Lev. 25:23–55). It was also required for a brother to marry his widowed sister-in-law to keep his brother’s name going (Deut. 25:5–10)—so-called a “levirate marriage” (from the Latin, levir, a brother-in-law).
But nowhere does the text say Boaz was Elimelech’s brother. There is the letter of the law, which applied to this other man, and then there is the spirit of the law, which worthy Boaz was willing to take upon himself. As he says in verse 13, “If he will redeem you, good; let him do it. But if he is not willing to redeem you, then, as the Lord lives, I will redeem you.”
But there is no resolution to this in this story. Our story ends with just as awkward an exchange between Boaz and Ruth. This is ancient love, don’t forget. No diamond rings; no embrace with the wind flowing through your hair as the sun sets. Nope; but there’s a robe and there’s grain. How romantic!
And as Ruth returns with the six measures of barley that Boaz put…on her (v. 15), Naomi sees her and asks, “How did you fare, my daughter?” (v. 16) Literally, she asks, “Who are you?” She is astonished again! Not only has Ruth returned with her morality and godliness intact, but she’s carrying six measures, that is, eighty pounds of barley strapped to her back.
And Ruth tells her that Boaz said he did not want her returning home “empty-handed” (v. 17). Remember that word? Empty was how Naomi described herself to her fellow Bethlehemites in 1:21.
And why six measures of barley? What did Naomi set out to do in verse 1? “Should I not seek rest for you.” What is the biblical number of incompleteness? Six. Naomi wanted rest for Ruth. But rest cannot come through the works of our hands. After we work, there remains something more. Only the Lord can give rest. And he gives rest in his way, not ours. He gives rest in his timing, not ours.
Conclusion
What a wonderful truth that points us to the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, we can plan and plot all we want in this life with how we are going to live and even think that’s somehow going to echo into eternity. But the truth of the Scriptures from beginning to end is that true, lasting rest of soul can come only from the Lord, who says,
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matt. 11:28–30)
Will you come to him, apart from your works, and rest in him? Amen.